onsdag den 2. februar 2011

Introductions

I wrote this for an English class, what do you think?

The nature of civilisation as we know it is changing.

In the aftermath of the second world war, the world changed slowly but surely. Global politics as we knew it then changed: New words such as the United Nations, superpowers and NATO were cropping up, and the interaction between countries both on a local and international scale was forever changed.

The change in politics and transnational interaction would also forever change how we perceived national values, ideologies and civilisation(s) in general. Even 70 years after the war, we are still unsure of the following: Are the civilisations of the world clashing or aligning?

There are many interesting theories and thoughts concerning this question. Two of the most recognized theories are those of Francis Fukuyama (as explained in the essay “The End of History?” concerning the alignment of civilisations) and Samuel P. Hunting (as put forth in “The Clash of Civilisations”, arguing for a coming clash of civilisations).

Francis Fukuyama is an American philosopher and political economist born in 1952. His theory and thoughts can be summed up as follows: The conflict of ideologies is coming to an end, as civilisations are becoming more alike each other.

The title of his essay “The End of History?” is based upon the fact that history is written in times of conflict. As the reason for most conflicts is an incomparability of ideologies, an alignment of ideologies would therefore remove the ground for conflicts, and, by that extend, remove the ground for history, ergo “The End of History”.

The question mark implies an uncertainty, which could be interpreted as Fukuyama being uncertain alignment of cultures would remove all conflicts.

According to Fukuyama, the nations around the would are adopting the western ideals (such as freedom of speech and democracy) at an increasing rate. For instance, the fall of the USSR made way for liberal economic ideas in Russia, and not to mention a democratic government. This tendency of adoption of western ideals held true with China after the death of chairman Mao Zedong in China. His successor, chairman Liu Shaoqi, opened the Chinese market for foreign investors, an idea more consistent with the Western open economy system, in comparison with the Chinese planned economy system.

When the countries outside the West adopts concepts such as the open economy system, democracy and freedom of speech, they will have no reason to start conflicts with the West, as they are a extension of it. If their neighbouring countries are also democratic open economy system nations with the same set of ideals, they will have no reason to start a conflict with them, either. Apply this trail of thought on a global scale, and you will have world peace, and therefore the end of history.